


Caught Standing Around

by bookmarkedpage



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, old fic is old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:23:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5555855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmarkedpage/pseuds/bookmarkedpage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war has ended, Padma Patil is starting her training to be a Healer at St Mungo's. She ends up running into Justin Finch-Fletchley and the two start a friendly banter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught Standing Around

Padma felt like she was eleven again, preparing to embark on something new and exciting, except this time she wasn’t wondering if she would be the shortest in their year (in fact, she already knew she was going to be the shortest person on staff, and thus height was not something she was worried about now). She was on the brink of another huge chapter of her life, and all the nervousness and anxiety that she had been suppressing suddenly welled up in her as she stood in the atrium of St Mungo’s. It was like she was frozen to the spot. How many times she had walked through the hospital before? Now that she was officially part of its staff, now that she was actually beginning her career, everything around her felt foreign.

A woman carrying a child hurried past her, bumping into her shoulder and jolting her from her daze and she nearly toppled over. The woman didn’t even bother to apologize.

“I think you’ve chosen a bad place to stand around,” said someone, and it took her a moment to realize that he (it sounded like a man) was speaking to her. The voice sounded familiar.

“I was just- thinking,” Padma said and turned around to see Justin Finch-Fletchley. She adjusted her bag and offered him a friendly smile. He was much better-looking than she’d remembered him, although he had been gone for seventh year, and that was a lot of time for someone to change. “What are you doing here?”

Justin smiled, (why hadn’t she ever noticed that he had such a wonderful smile?) clearly amused, and gestured to his attire. “I work here. Why are you standing in the middle of the atrium to think?”

“Oh, well- obviously you’ve never tried. It’s very thought-provoking,” she said with a bit of an embarrassed smile.

“I can see how all of the rushing people and the noise make for a conductive atmosphere for thinking,” Justin said, and Padma had to giggle at that.

“Well, um, I’d better go,” she said as she looked at her watch. “Hopefully we’ll bump into each other sometimes.”

“Hopefully,” Justin agreed, grinning.

Padma started on her way, only to realize that Justin was going in the same direction. When they both stopped on the same floor, she turned to him with a smirk. “Are you following me?” she asked.

“So it would seem,” he replied and she shook her head.

“I’d hate to file a complaint about you on the first day. It isn’t polite to stalk someone,” she told him.

“I’ll stop that immediately,” Justin said with a solemn nod.

She was about to say something else, but then their trainer was suddenly in their path and insisting they hurry up, instruction was about to begin.

***

“Hello, Patil,” came a voice from over her shoulder just as the group were leaving their first observation for lunch.

“Hello, Finch-Fletchley,” Padma replied, her eyes glued to the notes she had just taken. Thus far, her first day in training had been full of information, almost enough to make her dizzy, a sensation she never would have thought possible, and already she was going over how she would properly organize her notes that evening. She failed to take note of how close Justin was standing behind her, so engrossed was she by her notes.

“Any plans for lunch?” he asked.

Padma nodded and tucked her notes into their folder. “Yes, I’ve brought something from home.”

A brief silence and then, “All right, does that mean you’re having lunch with someone or are you dining alone this afternoon?”

“I hadn’t thought about it,” she replied and tucked everything into her bag, “but I had assumed I’d be alone.”

“By choice, or haven’t you found a suitable dining partner?”

Padma shrugged and finally noticed just how close he was standing to her. A blush rose to her cheeks; she could practically feel his body heat. “If someone worthwhile invited me, I wouldn’t turn down the offer,” she said casually and shrugged again.

Oh god, what was she doing? Was she actually trying to flirt? True, Justin had caught her eye practically the second he’d shown up, and then she found herself stealing glances at him the entire time they were gathered round a patient on the receiving end of a particularly gruesome hex, and then later she purposefully stood beside him during the observation.

She told herself it was simply because they knew each other from school and from being part of Dumbledore’s Army, that he was a friendly, familiar person, so sticking beside someone she knew might make the first day easier. They hadn’t even spoken to each other since they met in the atrium, but all the instruction didn’t leave time for that.

But she did find him attractive. And he was tall, and she really liked tall. Not to mention his hair looked a little rumpled and she sort of wanted to run her fingers through it and make it more rumpled and then fix it right after. Then there was that time this morning when he dropped all of his parchment and she was going to help him pick it up, but when he bent over she maybe stared at his backside-

“Is that a no?” Justin asked, and she could hear a hint of disappointment.

“I’m sorry, what?” she said. “Sorry, I’m listening.”

“Would you like to have lunch with me?”

As if she could possibly say no. “Of course,” she replied and turned to face him at last. “Besides, I’d rather talk to you than myself while I eat, otherwise everyone will think I’m mad.”

“Aren’t you?” Justin asked, which earned him a punch to his shoulder.

***

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written June 24th, 2008. I'm moving all of my older work over from LJ.


End file.
